U.S. patent number 9,131,523 [Application Number 13/891,152] was granted by the patent office on 2015-09-08 for coexistence management using a-priori time domain information.
This patent grant is currently assigned to QUALCOMM INCORPORATED. The grantee listed for this patent is QUALCOMM Incorporated. Invention is credited to Firouz Behnamfar, Sandip HomChaudhuri, Paul Husted, Alireza Raissinia.
United States Patent |
9,131,523 |
HomChaudhuri , et
al. |
September 8, 2015 |
Coexistence management using A-priori time domain information
Abstract
A user equipment (UE) uses information regarding the timing of
scheduling mobile wireless services (MWS) RAT communications to
improve MWS and wireless network connectivity (WCN) radio access
technology coexistence. To allow sufficient time for an uplink
grant to be received by the UE in advance of the scheduled uplink
time, an uplink grant may be sent in advance of the scheduled
uplink time. In some instances, the UE may receive an indication of
scheduled uplink time of the MWS RAT via a physical layer
communication. The UE may schedule communications of the WCN RAT
based at least in part on the indication of future activity.
Inventors: |
HomChaudhuri; Sandip (San Jose,
CA), Behnamfar; Firouz (San Jose, CA), Raissinia;
Alireza (San Jose, CA), Husted; Paul (San Jose, CA) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
QUALCOMM Incorporated |
San Diego |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
QUALCOMM INCORPORATED (San
Diego, CA)
|
Family
ID: |
50147953 |
Appl.
No.: |
13/891,152 |
Filed: |
May 9, 2013 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20140056277 A1 |
Feb 27, 2014 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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61692185 |
Aug 22, 2012 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W
28/26 (20130101); H04W 72/1257 (20130101); H04W
72/02 (20130101); H04W 72/1278 (20130101); H04W
88/06 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04W
4/00 (20090101); H04W 72/12 (20090101); H04W
28/26 (20090101); H04W 72/02 (20090101); H04W
88/06 (20090101) |
Field of
Search: |
;370/328-331,341-349,401-485 ;455/450-522 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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2393334 |
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Dec 2011 |
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EP |
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2010017490 |
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Feb 2010 |
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WO |
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2012019564 |
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Feb 2012 |
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WO |
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2012040265 |
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Mar 2012 |
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WO |
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Other References
Ericsson et al., "Handling of BT and WIFI control signaling in an
IDC interference scenario", 3GPP Draft; R2-116330, 3rd Generation
Partnership Project (3GPP), Mobile Competence Centre; 650, Route
Des Lucioles; F-06921 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex ; France, vol. RAN
WG2, no. San Francisco, US; 20111114-20111118, Nov. 8, 2011,
XP050564541, [retrieved on Nov. 8, 2011]. cited by applicant .
International Search Report and Written
Opinion--PCT/US2013/055855--ISA/EPO--Oct. 1, 2014. cited by
applicant.
|
Primary Examiner: Phan; Man
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Parent Case Text
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119(e) to
U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/692,185, entitled,
COEXISTENCE MANAGEMENT USING A-PRIORI TIME DOMAIN INFORMATION,
filed on Aug. 22, 2012, in the names of HomChaudhuri, et al., the
disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein
in its entirety.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of wireless communication, comprising: receiving an
indication of time and frequency resources of future activity of a
mobile wireless service (MWS) radio access technology (RAT) via a
physical layer communication of a physical engine or hardware of a
user equipment; and scheduling communications of a wireless
connectivity network (WCN) radio access technology (RAT) based at
least in part on the indication of time and frequency resources of
future activity, in which the indication of time and frequency
resources of future activity is an indication of an unused
measurement gap and the scheduling communications of the WCN RAT
comprises scheduling WCN communications during the unused
measurement gap.
2. The method of claim 1, in which the indication of time and
frequency resources of future activity is an uplink grant and the
scheduling communications of the WCN RAT comprises scheduling
uplink activity by the WCN RAT during a scheduled time for MWS
uplink communications.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising cancelling a planned
downlink reception of the WCN RAT during the scheduled time for MWS
uplink communications.
4. The method of claim 1, in which the scheduling communications of
the WCN RAT comprises changing a planned WCN communication
mode.
5. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for
receiving an indication of time and frequency resources of future
activity of a mobile wireless service (MWS) radio access technology
(RAT) via a physical layer communication of a physical engine or
hardware of a user equipment; and means for scheduling
communications of a wireless connectivity network (WCN) radio
access technology (RAT) based at least in part on the indication of
time and frequency resources of future activity, in which the
indication of time and frequency resources of future activity is an
indication of an unused measurement gap and the means for
scheduling communications of the WCN RAT comprises means for
scheduling WCN communications during the unused measurement
gap.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, in which the indication of time and
frequency resources of future activity is an uplink grant and the
means for scheduling communications of the WCN RAT comprises means
for scheduling uplink activity by the WCN RAT during a scheduled
time for MWS uplink communications.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising means for
cancelling a planned downlink reception of the WCN RAT during the
scheduled time for MWS uplink communications.
8. The apparatus of claim 5, in which the means for scheduling
communications of the WCN RAT comprises means for changing a
planned WCN communication mode.
9. A computer program product, comprising: a computer-readable
medium having program code recorded thereon, the program code
comprising: program code to receive an indication of time and
frequency resources of future activity of a mobile wireless service
(MWS) radio access technology (RAT) via a physical layer
communication of a physical engine or hardware of a user equipment;
and program code to schedule communications of a wireless
connectivity network (WCN) radio access technology (RAT) based at
least in part on the indication of time and frequency resources of
future activity, in which the indication of time and frequency
resources of future activity is an indication of an unused
measurement gap and the program code to schedule communications of
the WCN RAT comprises program code to schedule WCN communications
during the unused measurement gap.
10. The computer program product of claim 9, in which the
indication of time and frequency resources of future activity is an
uplink grant and the program code to schedule communications of the
WCN RAT comprises program code to schedule uplink activity by the
WCN RAT during a scheduled time for MWS uplink communications.
11. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising
program code to cancel a planned downlink reception of the WCN RAT
during the scheduled time for MWS uplink communications.
12. The computer program product of claim 9, in which the program
code to schedule communications of the WCN RAT comprises program
code to change a planned WCN communication mode.
13. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, the
apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled
to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor
is configured: to receive an indication of time and frequency
resources of future activity of a mobile wireless service (MWS)
radio access technology (RAT) via a physical layer communication of
a physical engine or hardware of a user equipment; and to schedule
communications of a wireless connectivity network (WCN) radio
access technology (RAT) based at least in part on the indication of
time and frequency resources of future activity, in which the
indication of time and frequency resources of future activity is an
indication of an unused measurement gap and the at least one
processor configured to schedule communications of the WCN RAT
comprises the at least one processor configured to schedule WCN
communications during the unused measurement gap.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, in which the indication of time and
frequency resources of future activity is an uplink grant and the
at least one processor configured to schedule communications of the
WCN RAT comprises at least one processor configured to schedule
uplink activity by the WCN RAT during a scheduled time for MWS
uplink communications.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, in which the at least one processor
is further configured to cancel a planned downlink reception of the
WCN RAT during the scheduled time for MWS uplink
communications.
16. The apparatus of claim 13, in which the at least one processor
configured to schedule communications of the WCN RAT comprises the
at least one processor configured to change a planned WCN
communication mode.
Description
BACKGROUND
1. Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to multi-radio
techniques and, more specifically, to coexistence techniques for
multi-radio devices.
2. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide
various types of communication content such as voice, data, and so
on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of
supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the
available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power).
Examples of such multiple access systems include code division
multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access
(TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems,
3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and orthogonal frequency
division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can
simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless
terminals. Each terminal communicates with one or more base
stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The
forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from
the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or
uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the
base stations. This communication link may be established via a
single-in-single-out, multiple-in-single-out or a
multiple-in-multiple out (MIMO) system.
Some conventional advanced devices include multiple radios for
transmitting/receiving using different Radio Access Technologies
(RATs). Examples of RATs include, e.g., Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS), Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM), cdma2000, WiMAX, WLAN (e.g., WiFi),
Bluetooth, LTE, and the like.
An example mobile device includes an LTE User Equipment (UE), such
as a fourth generation (4G) mobile phone. Such 4G phone may include
various radios to provide a variety of functions for the user. For
purposes of this example, the 4G phone includes an LTE radio for
voice and data, an IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) radio, a Global Positioning
System (GPS) radio, and a Bluetooth radio, where two of the above
or all four may operate simultaneously. While the different radios
provide useful functionalities for the phone, their inclusion in a
single device gives rise to coexistence issues. Specifically,
operation of one radio may in some cases interfere with operation
of another radio through radiative, conductive, resource collision,
and/or other interference mechanisms. Coexistence issues include
such interference.
This is especially true for the LTE uplink channel, which is
adjacent to the Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) band and
may cause interference therewith. It is noted that Bluetooth and
some Wireless LAN (WLAN) channels fall within the ISM band. In some
instances, a Bluetooth error rate can become unacceptable when LTE
is active in some channels of Band 7 or even Band 40 for some
Bluetooth channel conditions. Even though there is no significant
degradation to LTE, simultaneous operation with Bluetooth can
result in disruption in voice services terminating in a Bluetooth
headset. Such disruption may be unacceptable to the consumer. A
similar issue exists when LTE transmissions interfere with GPS.
Currently, there is no mechanism that can solve this issue since
LTE by itself does not experience any degradation
With reference specifically to LTE, it is noted that a UE
communicates with an evolved NodeB (eNB; e.g., a base station for a
wireless communications network) to inform the eNB of interference
seen by the UE on the downlink. Furthermore, the eNB may be able to
estimate interference at the UE using a downlink error rate. In
some instances, the eNB and the UE can cooperate to find a solution
that reduces interference at the UE, even interference due to
radios within the UE itself. However, in conventional LTE, the
interference estimates regarding the downlink may not be adequate
to comprehensively address interference.
In one instance, an LTE uplink signal interferes with a Bluetooth
signal or WLAN signal. However, such interference is not reflected
in the downlink measurement reports at the eNB. As a result,
unilateral action on the part of the UE (e.g., moving the uplink
signal to a different channel) may be thwarted by the eNB, which is
not aware of the uplink coexistence issue and seeks to undo the
unilateral action. For instance, even if the UE re-establishes the
connection on a different frequency channel, the network can still
handover the UE back to the original frequency channel that was
corrupted by the in-device interference. This is a likely scenario
because the desired signal strength on the corrupted channel may
sometimes be higher than reflected in the measurement reports of
the new channel based on Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) to
the eNB. Hence, a ping-pong effect of being transferred back and
forth between the corrupted channel and the desired channel can
happen if the eNB uses RSRP reports to make handover decisions.
Other unilateral action on the part of the UE, such as simply
stopping uplink communications without coordination of the eNB may
cause power loop malfunctions at the eNB. Additional issues that
exist in conventional LTE include a general lack of ability on the
part of the UE to suggest desired configurations as an alternative
to configurations that have coexistence issues. For at least these
reasons, uplink coexistence issues at the UE may remain unresolved
for a long time period, degrading performance and efficiency for
other radios of the UE.
SUMMARY
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for
wireless communication includes receiving an indication of time and
frequency resources of future activity of a mobile wireless service
(MWS) radio access technology (RAT) via a physical layer
communication. The method may also include scheduling
communications of a wireless connectivity network (WCN) radio
access technology (RAT) based at least in part on the indication of
time and frequency resources of future activity.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus
for wireless communication includes means for receiving an
indication of time and frequency resources of future activity of a
mobile wireless service (MWS) radio access technology (RAT) via a
physical layer communication. The apparatus may also include means
for scheduling communications of a wireless connectivity network
(WCN) radio access technology (RAT) based at least in part on the
indication of time and frequency resources of future activity.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a computer
program product for wireless communication in a wireless network
includes a computer readable medium having non-transitory program
code recorded thereon. The program code includes program code to
receive an indication of time and frequency resources of future
activity of a mobile wireless service (MWS) radio access technology
(RAT) via a physical layer communication. The program code also
includes program code to schedule communications of a wireless
connectivity network (WCN) radio access technology (RAT) based at
least in part on the indication of time and frequency resources of
future activity.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for
wireless communication includes a memory and a processor(s) coupled
to the memory. The processor(s) is configured to receive an
indication of time and frequency resources of future activity of a
mobile wireless service (MWS) radio access technology (RAT) via a
physical layer communication. The processor(s) is further
configured to schedule communications of a wireless connectivity
network (WCN) radio access technology (RAT) based at least in part
on the indication of time and frequency resources of future
activity.
This has outlined, rather broadly, the features and technical
advantages of the present disclosure in order that the detailed
description that follows may be better understood. Additional
features and advantages of the disclosure will be described below.
It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that this
disclosure may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or
designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of
the present disclosure. It should also be realized by those skilled
in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from
the teachings of the disclosure as set forth in the appended
claims. The novel features, which are believed to be characteristic
of the disclosure, both as to its organization and method of
operation, together with further objects and advantages, will be
better understood from the following description when considered in
connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly
understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the
purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as
a definition of the limits of the present disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The features, nature, and advantages of the present disclosure will
become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below
when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference
characters identify correspondingly throughout.
FIG. 1 illustrates a multiple access wireless communication system
according to one aspect.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a communication system according to
one aspect.
FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary frame structure in downlink Long
Term Evolution (LTE) communications.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an exemplary
frame structure in uplink Long Term Evolution (LTE)
communications.
FIG. 5 illustrates an example wireless communication
environment.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example design for a multi-radio
wireless device.
FIG. 7 is graph showing respective potential collisions between
seven example radios in a given decision period.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing operation of an example Coexistence
Manager (CxM) over time.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating adjacent frequency
bands.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a system for providing support within
a wireless communication environment for multi-radio coexistence
management according to one aspect of the present disclosure.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a multi-radio wireless device
according to one aspect of the disclosure.
FIG. 12 is a timing diagram that shows an uplink grant message sent
from the base station to the UE during the downlink control portion
of subframe n.
FIG. 13 is a timing diagram that shows a time division duplex
configuration in which communication inactivity may be detected,
according to one aspect of the disclosure.
FIG. 14 is a timing diagram illustrating measurement gap in which
communication inactivity may be detected, according to one aspect
of the disclosure.
FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating method for MWS
communication inactivity detection to improve MWS and WCN radio
access technology coexistence according to one aspect of the
present disclosure.
FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware
implementation for an apparatus employing a coexistence mitigation
system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Various aspects of the disclosure provide techniques to mitigate
coexistence issues in multi-radio devices, where significant
in-device coexistence problems can exist between, mobile wireless
services (MWS) devices (e.g., LTE) and wireless network
connectivity (WCN) devices that operate in the Industrial
Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands (e.g., for Bluetooth/wireless
local area network (BT/WLAN)). As explained above, some coexistence
issues persist because an eNB is not aware of interference on the
UE side that is experienced by other radios. To reduce the
interference and manage inter-radio coexistence, it is desirable to
coordinate behavior of the radios to reduce the time one radio is
receiving while another, potentially interfering, radio is
transmitting. One aspect of the present disclosure uses information
regarding the timing of scheduling MWS RAT communications to
improve MWS and WCN radio access technology coexistence.
The techniques described herein can be used for various wireless
communication networks such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency
Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA)
networks, Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, etc. The terms
"networks" and "systems" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA
network can implement a radio technology such as Universal
Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes
Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) and Low Chip Rate (LCR). cdma2000 covers
IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network can implement a
radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications
(GSM). An OFDMA network can implement a radio technology such as
Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20,
Flash-OFDM.RTM., etc. UTRA, E-UTRA, and GSM are part of Universal
Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). Long Term Evolution (LTE)
is an upcoming release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM,
UMTS and LTE are described in documents from an organization named
"3.sup.rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). CDMA2000 is
described in documents from an organization named "3.sup.rd
Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). These various radio
technologies and standards are known in the art. For clarity,
certain aspects of the techniques are described below for LTE, and
LTE terminology is used in portions of the description below.
Single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), which
utilizes single carrier modulation and frequency domain
equalization is a technique that can be utilized with various
aspects described herein. SC-FDMA has similar performance and
essentially the same overall complexity as those of an OFDMA
system. SC-FDMA signal has lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR)
because of its inherent single carrier structure. SC-FDMA has drawn
great attention, especially in the uplink communications where
lower PAPR greatly benefits the mobile terminal in terms of
transmit power efficiency. It is currently a working assumption for
an uplink multiple access scheme in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE),
or Evolved UTRA.
Referring to FIG. 1, a multiple access wireless communication
system according to one aspect is illustrated. An evolved Node B
100 (eNB) includes a computer 115 that has processing resources and
memory resources to manage the LTE communications by allocating
resources and parameters, granting/denying requests from user
equipment, and/or the like. The eNB 100 also has multiple antenna
groups, one group including antenna 104 and antenna 106, another
group including antenna 108 and antenna 110, and an additional
group including antenna 112 and antenna 114. In FIG. 1, only two
antennas are shown for each antenna group, however, more or fewer
antennas can be utilized for each antenna group. A User Equipment
(UE) 116 (also referred to as an Access Terminal (AT)) is in
communication with antennas 112 and 114, while antennas 112 and 114
transmit information to the UE 116 over an uplink (UL) 188. The UE
122 is in communication with antennas 106 and 108, while antennas
106 and 108 transmit information to the UE 122 over a downlink (DL)
126 and receive information from the UE 122 over an uplink 124. In
a frequency division duplex (FDD) system, communication links 118,
120, 124 and 126 can use different frequencies for communication.
For example, the downlink 120 can use a different frequency than
used by the uplink 118.
Each group of antennas and/or the area in which they are designed
to communicate is often referred to as a sector of the eNB. In this
aspect, respective antenna groups are designed to communicate to
UEs in a sector of the areas covered by the eNB 100.
In communication over the downlinks 120 and 126, the transmitting
antennas of the eNB 100 utilize beamforming to improve the
signal-to-noise ratio of the uplinks for the different UEs 116 and
122. Also, an eNB using beamforming to transmit to UEs scattered
randomly through its coverage causes less interference to UEs in
neighboring cells than a UE transmitting through a single antenna
to all its UEs.
An eNB can be a fixed station used for communicating with the
terminals and can also be referred to as an access point, base
station, or some other terminology. A UE can also be called an
access terminal, a wireless communication device, terminal, or some
other terminology.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an aspect of a transmitter system 210
(also known as an eNB) and a receiver system 250 (also known as a
UE) in a MIMO system 200. In some instances, both a UE and an eNB
each have a transceiver that includes a transmitter system and a
receiver system. At the transmitter system 210, traffic data for a
number of data streams is provided from a data source 212 to a
transmit (TX) data processor 214.
A MIMO system employs multiple (N.sub.T) transmit antennas and
multiple (N.sub.R) receive antennas for data transmission. A MIMO
channel formed by the N.sub.T transmit and N.sub.R receive antennas
may be decomposed into N.sub.S independent channels, which are also
referred to as spatial channels, wherein
N.sub.S.ltoreq.min{N.sub.T, N.sub.R}. Each of the N.sub.S
independent channels corresponds to a dimension. The MIMO system
can provide improved performance (e.g., higher throughput and/or
greater reliability) if the additional dimensionalities created by
the multiple transmit and receive antennas are utilized.
A MIMO system supports time division duplex (TDD) and frequency
division duplex (FDD) systems. In a TDD system, the uplink and
downlink transmissions are on the same frequency region so that the
reciprocity principle allows the estimation of the downlink channel
from the uplink channel. This enables the eNB to extract transmit
beamforming gain on the downlink when multiple antennas are
available at the eNB.
In an aspect, each data stream is transmitted over a respective
transmit antenna. The TX data processor 214 formats, codes, and
interleaves the traffic data for each data stream based on a
particular coding scheme selected for that data stream to provide
coded data.
The coded data for each data stream can be multiplexed with pilot
data using OFDM techniques. The pilot data is a known data pattern
processed in a known manner and can be used at the receiver system
to estimate the channel response. The multiplexed pilot and coded
data for each data stream is then modulated (e.g., symbol mapped)
based on a particular modulation scheme (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, M-PSK,
or M-QAM) selected for that data stream to provide modulation
symbols. The data rate, coding, and modulation for each data stream
can be determined by instructions performed by a processor 230
operating with a memory 232.
The modulation symbols for respective data streams are then
provided to a TX MIMO processor 220, which can further process the
modulation symbols (e.g., for OFDM). The TX MIMO processor 220 then
provides N.sub.T modulation symbol streams to N.sub.T transmitters
(TMTR) 222a through 222t. In certain aspects, the TX MIMO processor
220 applies beamforming weights to the symbols of the data streams
and to the antenna from which the symbol is being transmitted.
Each transmitter 222 receives and processes a respective symbol
stream to provide one or more analog signals, and further
conditions (e.g., amplifies, filters, and upconverts) the analog
signals to provide a modulated signal suitable for transmission
over the MIMO channel. N.sub.T modulated signals from the
transmitters 222a through 222t are then transmitted from N.sub.T
antennas 224a through 224t, respectively.
At a receiver system 250, the transmitted modulated signals are
received by N.sub.R antennas 252a through 252r and the received
signal from each antenna 252 is provided to a respective receiver
(RCVR) 254a through 254r. Each receiver 254 conditions (e.g.,
filters, amplifies, and downconverts) a respective received signal,
digitizes the conditioned signal to provide samples, and further
processes the samples to provide a corresponding "received" symbol
stream.
An RX data processor 260 then receives and processes the N.sub.R
received symbol streams from N.sub.R receivers 254 based on a
particular receiver processing technique to provide N.sub.R
"detected" symbol streams. The RX data processor 260 then
demodulates, deinterleaves, and decodes each detected symbol stream
to recover the traffic data for the data stream. The processing by
the RX data processor 260 is complementary to the processing
performed by the TX MIMO processor 220 and the TX data processor
214 at the transmitter system 210.
A processor 270 (operating with a memory 272) periodically
determines which pre-coding matrix to use (discussed below). The
processor 270 formulates an uplink message having a matrix index
portion and a rank value portion.
The uplink message can include various types of information
regarding the communication link and/or the received data stream.
The uplink message is then processed by a TX data processor 238,
which also receives traffic data for a number of data streams from
a data source 236, modulated by a modulator 280, conditioned by
transmitters 254a through 254r, and transmitted back to the
transmitter system 210.
At the transmitter system 210, the modulated signals from the
receiver system 250 are received by antennas 224, conditioned by
receivers 222, demodulated by a demodulator 240, and processed by
an RX data processor 242 to extract the uplink message transmitted
by the receiver system 250. The processor 230 then determines which
pre-coding matrix to use for determining the beamforming weights,
then processes the extracted message.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an exemplary
frame structure in downlink Long Term Evolution (LTE)
communications. The transmission timeline for the downlink may be
partitioned into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a
predetermined duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)) and may be
partitioned into 10 subframes with indices of 0 through 9. Each
subframe may include two slots. Each radio frame may thus include
20 slots with indices of 0 through 19. Each slot may include L
symbol periods, e.g., 7 symbol periods for a normal cyclic prefix
(as shown in FIG. 3) or 6 symbol periods for an extended cyclic
prefix. The 2L symbol periods in each subframe may be assigned
indices of 0 through 2L-1. The available time frequency resources
may be partitioned into resource blocks. Each resource block may
cover N subcarriers (e.g., 12 subcarriers) in one slot.
In LTE, an eNB may send a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) and
a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) for each cell in the eNB.
The PSS and SSS may be sent in symbol periods 6 and 5,
respectively, in each of subframes 0 and 5 of each radio frame with
the normal cyclic prefix, as shown in FIG. 3. The synchronization
signals may be used by UEs for cell detection and acquisition. The
eNB may send a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) in symbol periods
0 to 3 in slot 1 of subframe 0. The PBCH may carry certain system
information.
The eNB may send a Cell-specific Reference Signal (CRS) for each
cell in the eNB. The CRS may be sent in symbols 0, 1, and 4 of each
slot in case of the normal cyclic prefix, and in symbols 0, 1, and
3 of each slot in case of the extended cyclic prefix. The CRS may
be used by UEs for coherent demodulation of physical channels,
timing and frequency tracking, Radio Link Monitoring (RLM),
Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), and Reference Signal
Received Quality (RSRQ) measurements, etc.
The eNB may send a Physical Control Format Indicator Channel
(PCFICH) in the first symbol period of each subframe, as seen in
FIG. 3. The PCFICH may convey the number of symbol periods (M) used
for control channels, where M may be equal to 1, 2 or 3 and may
change from subframe to subframe. M may also be equal to 4 for a
small system bandwidth, e.g., with less than 10 resource blocks. In
the example shown in FIG. 3, M=3. The eNB may send a Physical HARQ
Indicator Channel (PHICH) and a Physical Downlink Control Channel
(PDCCH) in the first M symbol periods of each subframe. The PDCCH
and PHICH are also included in the first three symbol periods in
the example shown in FIG. 3. The PHICH may carry information to
support Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ). The PDCCH may carry
information on resource allocation for UEs and control information
for downlink channels. The eNB may send a Physical Downlink Shared
Channel (PDSCH) in the remaining symbol periods of each subframe.
The PDSCH may carry data for UEs scheduled for data transmission on
the downlink. The various signals and channels in LTE are described
in 3GPP TS 36.211, entitled "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio
Access (E-UTRA); Physical Channels and Modulation," which is
publicly available.
The eNB may send the PSS, SSS and PBCH in the center 1.08 MHz of
the system bandwidth used by the eNB. The eNB may send the PCFICH
and PHICH across the entire system bandwidth in each symbol period
in which these channels are sent. The eNB may send the PDCCH to
groups of UEs in certain portions of the system bandwidth. The eNB
may send the PDSCH to specific UEs in specific portions of the
system bandwidth. The eNB may send the PSS, SSS, PBCH, PCFICH and
PHICH in a broadcast manner to all UEs, may send the PDCCH in a
unicast manner to specific UEs, and may also send the PDSCH in a
unicast manner to specific UEs.
A number of resource elements may be available in each symbol
period. Each resource element may cover one subcarrier in one
symbol period and may be used to send one modulation symbol, which
may be a real or complex value. Resource elements not used for a
reference signal in each symbol period may be arranged into
resource element groups (REGs). Each REG may include four resource
elements in one symbol period. The PCFICH may occupy four REGs,
which may be spaced approximately equally across frequency, in
symbol period 0. The PHICH may occupy three REGs, which may be
spread across frequency, in one or more configurable symbol
periods. For example, the three REGs for the PHICH may all belong
in symbol period 0 or may be spread in symbol periods 0, 1 and 2.
The PDCCH may occupy 9, 18, 32 or 64 REGs, which may be selected
from the available REGs, in the first M symbol periods. Only
certain combinations of REGs may be allowed for the PDCCH.
A UE may know the specific REGs used for the PHICH and the PCFICH.
The UE may search different combinations of REGs for the PDCCH. The
number of combinations to search is typically less than the number
of allowed combinations for the PDCCH. An eNB may send the PDCCH to
the UE in any of the combinations that the UE will search.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an exemplary
frame structure in uplink Long Term Evolution (LTE) communications.
The available Resource Blocks (RBs) for the uplink may be
partitioned into a data section and a control section. The control
section may be formed at the two edges of the system bandwidth and
may have a configurable size. The resource blocks in the control
section may be assigned to UEs for transmission of control
information. The data section may include all resource blocks not
included in the control section. The design in FIG. 4 results in
the data section including contiguous subcarriers, which may allow
a single UE to be assigned all of the contiguous subcarriers in the
data section.
A UE may be assigned resource blocks in the control section to
transmit control information to an eNB. The UE may also be assigned
resource blocks in the data section to transmit data to the eNodeB.
The UE may transmit control information in a Physical Uplink
Control Channel (PUCCH) on the assigned resource blocks in the
control section. The UE may transmit only data or both data and
control information in a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) on
the assigned resource blocks in the data section. An uplink
transmission may span both slots of a subframe and may hop across
frequency as shown in FIG. 4.
The PSS, SSS, CRS, PBCH, PUCCH and PUSCH in LTE are described in
3GPP TS 36.211, entitled "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio
Access (E-UTRA); Physical Channels and Modulation," which is
publicly available.
In an aspect, described herein are systems and methods for
providing support within a wireless communication environment, such
as a 3GPP LTE environment or the like, to facilitate multi-radio
coexistence solutions.
Referring now to FIG. 5, illustrated is an example wireless
communication environment 500 in which various aspects described
herein can function. The wireless communication environment 500 can
include a wireless device 510, which can be capable of
communicating with multiple communication systems. These systems
can include, for example, one or more cellular systems 520 and/or
530, one or more WLAN systems 540 and/or 550, one or more wireless
personal area network (WPAN) systems 560, one or more broadcast
systems 570, one or more satellite positioning systems 580, other
systems not shown in FIG. 5, or any combination thereof. It should
be appreciated that in the following description the terms
"network" and "system" are often used interchangeably.
The cellular systems 520 and 530 can each be a CDMA, TDMA, FDMA,
OFDMA, Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), or other suitable system. A
CDMA system can implement a radio technology such as Universal
Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes
Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. Moreover,
cdma2000 covers IS-2000 (CDMA2000 1X), IS-95 and IS-856 (HRPD)
standards. A TDMA system can implement a radio technology such as
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Digital Advanced
Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS), etc. An OFDMA system can implement a
radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile
Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM.RTM.,
etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication
System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced
(LTE-A) are new releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA,
UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are described in documents from an
organization named "3.sup.rd Generation Partnership Project"
(3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an
organization named "3.sup.rd Generation Partnership Project 2"
(3GPP2). In an aspect, the cellular system 520 can include a number
of base stations 522, which can support bi-directional
communication for wireless devices within their coverage.
Similarly, the cellular system 530 can include a number of base
stations 532 that can support bi-directional communication for
wireless devices within their coverage.
WLAN systems 540 and 550 can respectively implement radio
technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (WiFi), Hiperlan, etc. The WLAN
system 540 can include one or more access points 542 that can
support bi-directional communication. Similarly, the WLAN system
550 can include one or more access points 552 that can support
bi-directional communication. The WPAN system 560 can implement a
radio technology such as Bluetooth (BT), IEEE 802.15, etc. Further,
the WPAN system 560 can support bi-directional communication for
various devices such as wireless device 510, a headset 562, a
computer 564, a mouse 566, or the like.
The broadcast system 570 can be a television (TV) broadcast system,
a frequency modulation (FM) broadcast system, a digital broadcast
system, etc. A digital broadcast system can implement a radio
technology such as MediaFLO.TM., Digital Video Broadcasting for
Handhelds (DVB-H), Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting for
Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (ISDB-T), or the like. Further,
the broadcast system 570 can include one or more broadcast stations
572 that can support one-way communication.
The satellite positioning system 580 can be the United States
Global Positioning System (GPS), the European Galileo system, the
Russian GLONASS system, the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS)
over Japan, the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System
(IRNSS) over India, the Beidou system over China, and/or any other
suitable system. Further, the satellite positioning system 580 can
include a number of satellites 582 that transmit signals for
position determination.
In an aspect, the wireless device 510 can be stationary or mobile
and can also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), a mobile
station, a mobile equipment, a terminal, an access terminal, a
subscriber unit, a station, etc. The wireless device 510 can be
cellular phone, a personal digital assistance (PDA), a wireless
modem, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a
wireless local loop (WLL) station, etc. In addition, a wireless
device 510 can engage in two-way communication with the cellular
system 520 and/or 530, the WLAN system 540 and/or 550, devices with
the WPAN system 560, and/or any other suitable systems(s) and/or
devices(s). The wireless device 510 can additionally or
alternatively receive signals from the broadcast system 570 and/or
satellite positioning system 580. In general, it can be appreciated
that the wireless device 510 can communicate with any number of
systems at any given moment. Also, the wireless device 510 may
experience coexistence issues among various ones of its constituent
radio devices that operate at the same time. Accordingly, device
510 includes a coexistence manager (CxM, not shown) that has a
functional module to detect and mitigate coexistence issues, as
explained further below.
Turning next to FIG. 6, a block diagram is provided that
illustrates an example design for a multi-radio wireless device 600
and may be used as an implementation of the radio 510 of FIG. 5. As
FIG. 6 illustrates, the wireless device 600 can include N radios
620a through 620n, which can be coupled to N antennas 610a through
610n, respectively, where N can be any integer value. It should be
appreciated, however, that respective radios 620 can be coupled to
any number of antennas 610 and that multiple radios 620 can also
share a given antenna 610.
In general, a radio 620 can be a unit that radiates or emits energy
in an electromagnetic spectrum, receives energy in an
electromagnetic spectrum, or generates energy that propagates via
conductive means. By way of example, a radio 620 can be a unit that
transmits a signal to a system or a device or a unit that receives
signals from a system or device. Accordingly, it can be appreciated
that a radio 620 can be utilized to support wireless communication.
In another example, a radio 620 can also be a unit (e.g., a screen
on a computer, a circuit board, etc.) that emits noise, which can
impact the performance of other radios. Accordingly, it can be
further appreciated that a radio 620 can also be a unit that emits
noise and interference without supporting wireless
communication.
In an aspect, respective radios 620 can support communication with
one or more systems. Multiple radios 620 can additionally or
alternatively be used for a given system, e.g., to transmit or
receive on different frequency bands (e.g., cellular and PCS
bands).
In another aspect, a digital processor 630 can be coupled to radios
620a through 620n and can perform various functions, such as
processing for data being transmitted or received via the radios
620. The processing for each radio 620 can be dependent on the
radio technology supported by that radio and can include
encryption, encoding, modulation, etc., for a transmitter;
demodulation, decoding, decryption, etc., for a receiver, or the
like. In one example, the digital processor 630 can include a
coexistence manager (CxM) 640 that can control operation of the
radios 620 in order to improve the performance of the wireless
device 600 as generally described herein. The coexistence manager
640 can have access to a database 644, which can store information
used to control the operation of the radios 620. As explained
further below, the coexistence manager 640 can be adapted for a
variety of techniques to decrease interference between the radios.
In one example, the coexistence manager 640 requests a measurement
gap pattern or DRX cycle that allows an ISM radio to communicate
during periods of LTE inactivity.
For simplicity, digital processor 630 is shown in FIG. 6 as a
single processor. However, it should be appreciated that the
digital processor 630 can include any number of processors,
controllers, memories, etc. In one example, a controller/processor
650 can direct the operation of various units within the wireless
device 600. Additionally or alternatively, a memory 652 can store
program codes and data for the wireless device 600. The digital
processor 630, controller/processor 650, and memory 652 can be
implemented on one or more integrated circuits (ICs), application
specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc. By way of specific,
non-limiting example, the digital processor 630 can be implemented
on a Mobile Station Modem (MSM) ASIC.
In an aspect, the coexistence manager 640 can manage operation of
respective radios 620 utilized by wireless device 600 in order to
avoid interference and/or other performance degradation associated
with collisions between respective radios 620. Coexistence manager
640 may perform one or more processes, such as those illustrated in
FIG. 17. By way of further illustration, a graph 700 in FIG. 7
represents respective potential collisions between seven example
radios in a given decision period. In the example shown in graph
700, the seven radios include a WLAN transmitter (Tw), an LTE
transmitter (Tl), an FM transmitter (Tf), a GSM/WCDMA transmitter
(Tc/Tw), an LTE receiver (Rl), a Bluetooth receiver (Rb), and a GPS
receiver (Rg). The four transmitters are represented by four nodes
on the left side of the graph 700. The four receivers are
represented by three nodes on the right side of the graph 700.
A potential collision between a transmitter and a receiver is
represented on the graph 700 by a branch connecting the node for
the transmitter and the node for the receiver. Accordingly, in the
example shown in the graph 700, collisions may exist between (1)
the WLAN transmitter (Tw) and the Bluetooth receiver (Rb); (2) the
LTE transmitter (Tl) and the Bluetooth receiver (Rb); (3) the WLAN
transmitter (Tw) and the LTE receiver (Rl); (4) the FM transmitter
(Tf) and the GPS receiver (Rg); (5) a WLAN transmitter (Tw), a
GSM/WCDMA transmitter (Tc/Tw), and a GPS receiver (Rg).
In one aspect, an example coexistence manager 640 can operate in
time in a manner such as that shown by diagram 800 in FIG. 8. As
diagram 800 illustrates, a timeline for coexistence manager
operation can be divided into Decision Units (DUs), which can be
any suitable uniform or non-uniform length (e.g., 100 .mu.s) where
notifications are processed, and a response phase (e.g., 20 .mu.s)
where commands are provided to various radios 620 and/or other
operations are performed based on actions taken in the evaluation
phase. In one example, the timeline shown in the diagram 800 can
have a latency parameter defined by a worst case operation of the
timeline, e.g., the timing of a response in the case that a
notification is obtained from a given radio immediately following
termination of the notification phase in a given DU.
As shown in FIG. 9, Long Term Evolution (LTE) in band 7 (for
frequency division duplex (FDD) uplink), band 40 (for time division
duplex (TDD) communication), and band 38 (for TDD downlink) is
adjacent to the 2.4 GHz Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM)
band used by Bluetooth (BT) and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
technologies. Frequency planning for these bands is such that there
is limited or no guard band permitting traditional filtering
solutions to avoid interference at adjacent frequencies. For
example, a 20 MHz guard band exists between ISM and band 7, but no
guard band exists between ISM and band 40.
To be compliant with appropriate standards, communication devices
operating over a particular band are to be operable over the entire
specified frequency range. For example, in order to be LTE
compliant, a mobile station/user equipment should be able to
communicate across the entirety of both band 40 (2300-2400 MHz) and
band 7 (2500-2570 MHz) as defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP). Without a sufficient guard band, devices employ
filters that overlap into other bands causing band interference.
Because band 40 filters are 100 MHz wide to cover the entire band,
the rollover from those filters crosses over into the ISM band
causing interference. Similarly, ISM devices that use the entirety
of the ISM band (e.g., from 2401 through approximately 2480 MHz)
will employ filters that rollover into the neighboring band 40 and
band 7 and may cause interference.
In-device coexistence problems can exist with respect to a UE
between resources such as, for example, LTE and ISM bands (e.g.,
for Bluetooth/WLAN). In current LTE implementations, any
interference issues to LTE are reflected in the downlink
measurements (e.g., Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ)
metrics, etc.) reported by a UE and/or the downlink error rate
which the eNB can use to make inter-frequency or inter-RAT handoff
decisions to, e.g., move LTE to a channel or RAT with no
coexistence issues. However, it can be appreciated that these
existing techniques will not work if, for example, the LTE uplink
is causing interference to Bluetooth/WLAN but the LTE downlink does
not see any interference from Bluetooth/WLAN. More particularly,
even if the UE autonomously moves itself to another channel on the
uplink, the eNB can in some cases handover the UE back to the
problematic channel for load balancing purposes. In any case, it
can be appreciated that existing techniques do not facilitate use
of the bandwidth of the problematic channel in the most efficient
way.
Turning now to FIG. 10, a block diagram of a system 1000 for
providing support within a wireless communication environment for
multi-radio coexistence management is illustrated. In an aspect,
the system 1000 can include one or more UEs 1010 and/or eNBs 1040,
which can engage in uplink and/or downlink communications, and/or
any other suitable communication with each other and/or any other
entities in the system 1000. In one example, the UE 1010 and/or eNB
1040 can be operable to communicate using a variety resources,
including frequency channels and sub-bands, some of which can
potentially be colliding with other radio resources (e.g., a
broadband radio such as an LTE modem). Thus, the UE 1010 can
utilize various techniques for managing coexistence between
multiple radios utilized by the UE 1010, as generally described
herein.
To mitigate at least the above shortcomings, the UE 1010 can
utilize respective features described herein and illustrated by the
system 1000 to facilitate support for multi-radio coexistence
within the UE 1010. For example, a schedule monitoring module 1012,
an inactivity detection module 1014, and a radio access technology
(RAT) scheduling module 1016 may be implemented. The schedule
monitoring module 1012 monitors the scheduling of a mobile wireless
services (MWS) RAT's communications. The inactivity detection
module 1014 monitors the MWS communication scheduling to determine
periods of MWS communication inactivity. The RAT scheduling module
1016 may enable operation of WCN RATs and MWS RATs depending on the
detection of MWS communication inactivity using the methods
described below. The various modules 1012-1016 may, in some
examples, be implemented as part of a coexistence manager such as
the CxM 640 of FIG. 6. The various modules 1012-1016 and others may
be configured to implement the embodiments discussed herein.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a multi-radio wireless device 1100
according to one aspect of the disclosure. As FIG. 11 illustrates,
the wireless device 600 includes a mobile wireless services (MWS)
radio access technology (MWS RAT) 1120a and a wireless connectivity
network (WCN) radio access technology (WCN RAT) 1120b that are
coupled to antennas 1110a and 1110b, respectively. In this
configuration, the MWS RAT 1120a may be an LTE RAT and the WCN RAT
1120b may be a Bluetooth (BT) or wireless local area network (WLAN)
RAT that operates within the ISM band. It should be appreciated,
however, that the MWS RAT 1120a is not limited to LTE and could be
another RAT including WiMAX and other like mobile wireless service
technologies. It should also be appreciated that respective RATs
1120 may be coupled to any number of antennas 1110 and that
multiple RATs 1120 may also share a given antenna 1110.
In this configuration, the multi-radio wireless device 1100
includes a coexistence interface 1130 according to, for example, a
universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) configuration.
Representatively, the coexistence interface 1130 is configured as a
two-wire asynchronous, message based serial interface. A UART word
format for communication over the coexistence interface 1130 is
shown in Table 1. Example message types communicated over the
coexistence interface 1130 are shown in Table 2.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 LTE Coexistence UART Word Format b0 b1 b2 b3
b4 b5 b6 b7 Type Type[1] Type[2] MSG[0] MSG[1] MSG[2] MSG[3] MSG[4]
[0]
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 LTE Coexistence UART Message Types Message
Type Message Type Direction Indicator Real Time Signaling Message
MWS <-> BT 0x00 Transport Control Message MWS <-> BT
0x01 Transparent Data Message MWS <-> BT 0x02 MWS Inactivity
Duration Message MWS -> BT 0x03 MWS Scan Frequency Message MWS
-> BT 0x04 RFU MWS <- BT 0x03, 0x04 RFU 0x5 Vendor Specific
0x6-0x7
The Real Time Signaling Message is a bi-directional communication
message that provides a real time status report between the MWS RAT
1120a and the WCN RAT 1120b (e.g., when the MWS RAT 1120a or the
WCN RAT 1120b is transmitting or receiving, this status is
communicated to the other RAT). The Transport Control Message is a
bi-directional message that enables the request of a Real Time
Signaling Message. For example, when the MWS RAT 1120a awakes from
a sleep state, a Transport Control Message may be issued to
determine a real time status of the WCN RAT 1120b. The transparent
data message is a bi-directional message with a pre-defined format
to exchange one nibble (i.e., 4 bits) of information between RATs.
Higher layers of a communication protocol may generate the
transparent data message.
As further illustrated in Table 2, the MWS Inactivity Duration
Message is a unidirectional message from the MWS RAT 1120a to the
WCN RAT 1120b that provides a sleep indication duration indicating
to the WCN RAT when the MWS RAT is inactive. The MWS Scan Frequency
Message is a unidirectional message from MWS RAT 1120a to the WCN
RAT 1120b to notify the WCN RAT 1120b that the MWS RAT 1120a is
performing a frequency scan.
As shown in FIG. 11, the MWS RAT 1120a and the WCN RAT 1120b are
collocated within the multi-radio wireless device 1100.
Consequently, collocated interference 1102 is experienced when the
MWS RAT 1120a and the WCN RAT 1120b operate on adjacent bands. For
example, the MWS RAT 1120a may be an LTE modem and the WCN RAT
1120b may be a Bluetooth BT or WLAN modem that operates within the
ISM band. As noted in FIG. 9, WCN (e.g., BT and WLAN) and MWS
(e.g., an LTE modem) radio access technologies operate on adjacent
bands, resulting in the collocated interference 1102 shown in FIG.
11.
As explained in FIG. 9 and shown in FIG. 11, interference may occur
when the WCN RAT 1120b (e.g., an Industrial, Scientific, and
Medical (ISM) radio) receives at the same time the MWS RAT 1120a in
the device using a proximate frequency bandwidth (e.g., a Long Term
Evolution (LTE) radio) transmits. Similarly, interference may occur
when the MWS RAT 1120a receives and the WCN RAT 1120b transmits. To
reduce the interference and manage inter-radio coexistence, it is
desirable to coordinate behavior of the radios to reduce the time
one radio is receiving while another, potentially interfering,
radio is transmitting. One aspect of the present disclosure uses
information about the timing of scheduling MWS RAT communications
to improve MWS and WCN radio access technology coexistence.
One feature of LTE communications that may be exploited for
purposes of coexistence management is the timing of scheduling of
LTE communications. Downlink (DL) communications from a base
station to a user equipment (e.g., multi-radio wireless device
1100) are scheduled via a downlink indication that informs the user
equipment (UE) that the base station is sending data intended for
that UE. Such allocations may be transmitted to UEs served by the
particular base station every 1 ms.
In a downlink allocation (also called a downlink grant) a base
station will indicate to the UE the specific resource blocks that
contain the data intended for the UE. In addition, a base station
may send a message to a UE indicating to the UE when the UE is
scheduled to transmit to the base station. These scheduling
messages are called uplink grants. Uplink grants are typically sent
on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).
To allow sufficient time for an uplink grant to be received by the
UE in advance of the scheduled uplink time, an uplink grant may be
sent in advance of the scheduled uplink time. Specifically, in LTE
the uplink grant may be sent to the UE during a downlink
communication that is at least 4 subframes (i.e., 4 ms) ahead of
when the uplink communication is to occur. For example, an uplink
grant sent during subframe 0 may indicate that the UE should
transmit during subframe 4. FIG. 12 is a timing diagram 1200 that
shows an uplink grant message sent from the base station to the UE
during the downlink control portion of subframe n. That uplink
grant message indicates to the receiving UE that the UE should
transmit uplink data to the base station during subframe n+4.
FIG. 13 is a timing diagram 1300 that shows a time division duplex
configuration in which MWS communication inactivity may be
detected, according to one aspect of the disclosure. In frequency
division duplexed (FDD) LTE communications, if an uplink grant is
sent at subframe n, the time between the sending of the uplink
grant and the scheduled uplink time is n+4 ms. In time division
duplexed (TDD) LTE communications, if an uplink grant is sent at
subframe n, the time between the sending of the uplink grant and
the scheduled uplink time is n+k where k may vary from 4 to 7 ms.
Thus, assuming that a UE can decode and parse an uplink grant
within approximately 0.5 ms, the UE will have between 3.5 ms and
6.5 ms between when it knows it will be transmitting using an LTE
radio and when the LTE radio actually transmits.
Advance knowledge of MWS (e.g., LTE) communication activity may
allow the multi-radio wireless device 1100, and in particular a
coexistence manager, to coordinate activity between the MWS RAT
1120a and the WCN RAT 1120b to reduce interference. In one aspect
of the disclosure, a coexistence manager uses the lead time to
coordinate activity between the MWS RAT 1120a (e.g., an LTE radio)
and the WCN RAT 1120b (e.g., an ISM radio) to improve multi-radio
device coexistence. For example, FIG. 13 shows TDD configuration
number three 1302, in which an MWS transmission reset (MWS_TXreset)
1320 of the MWS RAT 1120a is known at subframe zero 1310. As a
result, the detected MWS communication inactivity period of the MWS
RAT 1120a can be shared with the WCN RAT 1120b.
Specifically, when a multi-radio wireless device 1100 detects an
MWS (e.g., LTE) uplink grant, it may notify another radio such as
the WCN RAT 1120b, of the time during which the MWS RAT 1120a is
scheduled to transmit. In one aspect, the detection of the uplink
grant may be performed on the physical layer by a physical engine
or hardware that may detect the MWS uplink grant and then
communicate information about the grant (for example, the time of
the grant) to the coexistence manager or to another radio, such as
the WCN RAT 1120b. The coexistence manager (or other component of
the multi-radio wireless device 1100) may then schedule the WCN RAT
1120b to avoid performing receiving (downlink) activities during
that time to avoid potential collision between the MWS uplink
(i.e., transmission) activity and any receiving activity of the WCN
RAT 1120b.
Further, multiple technologies which that use the WCN RAT 1120b
(such as Bluetooth or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)) may
reschedule planned communications based on the knowledge of the MWS
(e.g., LTE) uplink grant timing. For example, normally if a
Bluetooth high priority receive task and WLAN low priority transmit
task are scheduled for an overlapping time period, the Bluetooth
receive task would be performed (and the WLAN task delayed) due to
the higher priority of the Bluetooth receive task. If, however,
those Bluetooth and WLAN tasks are scheduled for a time period
overlapping with the LTE scheduled uplink time, the WLAN transmit
task may be performed instead of the Bluetooth receive task, as the
Bluetooth receive task is likely to collide with the LTE uplink,
which would result in a wasted receive task. Scheduling the WLAN
transmit task during the LTE uplink time allows the WCN RAT 1120b
to make more efficient use of its resources.
Similarly, a WCN technology, such as WiFi, may reschedule planned
operations based on the MWS (e.g., LTE) scheduled uplink time. For
example, if a WiFi radio knows that an LTE radio is about to
commence transmission, the WiFi radio may withhold a planned
transition from 5 GHz operation to 2 GHz operation, as the 2 GHz
operation is more likely to collide with the LTE uplink. Instead,
the WiFi radio may continue to operate in a 5 GHz band until the
potential interference has passed. Thus the WiFi radio may improve
its performance by avoiding activity that is likely to be
interfered with by the LTE uplink.
FIG. 14 is a timing diagram 1400 illustrating measurement gaps in
which communication inactivity may be detected, according to one
aspect of the disclosure. For example, MWS (e.g., LTE)
communications may also include planned measurement gaps 1430
(1430-1, 1430-2), which are periods of communication inactivity of
the LTE radio to allow measurement of neighboring frequencies or
RATs. These gaps 1432 typically are 6 ms long and occur every 40 or
80 ms depending on the LTE configuration. Not all of these gaps are
used for measurement of neighboring frequencies. When the LTE radio
knows ahead of time which gaps are not used for measurement, it may
notify a coexistence manager (or other UE component) so that
activities of other radios may be scheduled during these LTE
communication gaps. In one aspect of the disclosure, WCN RAT 1120b
transmit or receive activities may be scheduled during such gaps so
as to reduce interference between WCN activity and MWS (e.g., LTE)
activity.
It should be noted that determination of potential interference
depends on the direction of planned LTE and ISM communications.
When both radios are receiving, interference is not likely.
Similarly, when both radios are transmitting, interference is not
likely. If, however, one radio is transmitting, receiving activity
by the other may be interfered with.
In one aspect of the disclosure, a coexistence manager may
reconfigure ISM communications based on planned LTE activity. For
example, if a WiFi radio knows that an LTE radio is about to
commence transmission, the WiFi radio may withhold a planned
transition from 5 GHz operation to 2 GHz operation, as the 2 GHz
operation is more likely to collide with the LTE uplink. Instead
the WiFi radio may continue to operate in a 5 GHz band until the
potential interference has passed. Thus the WiFi radio may improve
its performance by avoiding activity that is likely to be
interfered with by the LTE uplink.
FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating method 1500 for MWS
communication inactivity detection to improve MWS and WCN radio
access technology coexistence according to one aspect of the
present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 15 a UE may receive an
indication (e.g., of time and frequency resources) of future
activity of a mobile wireless service (MWS) radio access technology
(RAT) via a physical layer communication, as shown in block 1502.
Such an indication may include information about specific resource
blocks (such as those discussed in reference to FIG. 4) to be used
for communications by the MWS RAT. A UE may schedule communications
of a wireless connectivity network (WCN) radio access technology
(RAT) based at least in part on the indication of future activity,
as shown in block 1504.
FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware
implementation for an apparatus 1600 employing a wireless
communication system 1614. The wireless communication system 1614
may be implemented with a bus architecture, represented generally
by a bus 1624. The bus 1624 may include any number of
interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific
application of the wireless communication system 1614 and the
overall design constraints. The bus 1624 links together various
circuits including one or more processors and/or hardware modules,
represented by a processor 1626, a receiving module 1602, a
scheduling module 1604, and a computer-readable medium 1628. The
bus 1624 may also link various other circuits such as timing
sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management
circuits, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not
be described any further.
The apparatus includes the wireless communication system 1614
coupled to a transceiver 1622. The transceiver 1622 is coupled to
one or more antennas 1620. The transceiver 1622 provides a means
for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission
medium. The wireless communication system 1614 includes the
processor 1626 coupled to the computer-readable medium 1628. The
processor 1626 is responsible for general processing, including the
execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium 1628.
The software, when executed by the processor 1626, causes the
wireless communication system 1614 to perform the various functions
described supra for any particular apparatus. The computer-readable
medium 1628 may also be used for storing data that is manipulated
by the processor 1626 when executing software. The wireless
communication system 1614 further includes the receiving module
1602 for receiving an indication of future activity of a mobile
wireless service (MWS) radio access technology (RAT) via a physical
layer communication and the scheduling module 1604 for scheduling
communications of a wireless connectivity network (WCN) radio
access technology (RAT) based at least in part on the indication of
future activity. The receiving module 1602 and the scheduling
module 1604 and the may be software modules running in the
processor 1626, resident/stored in the computer readable medium
1628, one or more hardware modules coupled to the processor 1626,
or some combination thereof.
In one configuration, the apparatus 1600 for wireless communication
includes means for receiving The means may be the receiving module
1602 and/or the wireless communication system 1614 of the apparatus
1600 configured to perform the functions recited by the means. The
means may include the receiving module 1602, processor 270/1626,
memory 272, computer-readable medium 1628, receiver 254,
transceiver 1622, antennae 252/1110/1620, schedule monitoring
module 1012, inactivity detection module 1014, coexistence manager
640 and/or coexistence interface 1130. In another aspect, the
aforementioned means may be any module or any apparatus configured
to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.
In one configuration, the apparatus 1600 for wireless communication
includes means for scheduling. The means may be the scheduling
module 1604 and/or the wireless communication system 1614 of the
apparatus 1600 configured to perform the functions recited by the
means. The means may include the scheduling module 1604, processor
270/1626, memory 272, computer-readable medium 1628, RAT scheduling
module 1016, coexistence manager 640 and/or coexistence interface
1130. In another aspect, the aforementioned means may be any module
or any apparatus configured to perform the functions recited by the
aforementioned means.
The examples above describe aspects implemented in an LTE system.
However, the scope of the disclosure is not so limited. Various
aspects may be adapted for use with other communication systems,
such as those that employ any of a variety of communication
protocols including, but not limited to, CDMA systems, TDMA
systems, FDMA systems, and OFDMA systems.
It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in
the processes disclosed is an example of exemplary approaches.
Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific
order or hierarchy of steps in the processes may be rearranged
while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. The
accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in
a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific
order or hierarchy presented.
Those of skill in the art would understand that information and
signals may be represented using any of a variety of different
technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions,
commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may
be referenced throughout the above description may be represented
by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or
particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination
thereof.
Those of skill would further appreciate that the various
illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps
described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be
implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or
combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability
of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks,
modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in
terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is
implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular
application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.
Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in
varying ways for each particular application, but such
implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a
departure from the scope of the present disclosure.
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits
described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be
implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a
digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated
circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other
programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic,
discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed
to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose
processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the
processor may be any conventional processor, controller,
microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be
implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a
combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of
microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a
DSP core, or any other such configuration.
The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the
aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a
software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the
two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM
memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a
removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known
in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor
such the processor can read information from, and write information
to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may
be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium
may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In
the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as
discrete components in a user terminal.
The previous description of the disclosed aspects is provided to
enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present
disclosure. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily
apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles
defined herein may be applied to other aspects without departing
from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present
disclosure is not intended to be limited to the aspects shown
herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the
principles and novel features disclosed herein.
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